A Stag Alone
by greenleaf-in-bloom
Summary: The summer after the Marauders' sixth year, James goes missing. A string of clues leads the other three to a frightening conclusion...read, and review if you want! PG13 mostly for language and a bit of violence.
1. Letters

Dear Remus,  
  
I know it was the full moon last night, and I know your parents don't like Bludger, and I know you're probably exhausted and agree with your parents that my owl is best off dead, but I have some bad news. I just got the letter from Mr. Potter - James is missing. He just disappeared in the middle of the night - no note, no warning, no nothing. They've contacted everyone in our year, and no one has any idea where he is. You and Peter are the last ones. I'm using a Post Owl to write to Peter. If you have any ideas, good God, Remus, contact me and/or the Potters.  
  
Padfoot  
  
Dear Pf.,  
  
Yes, damn you, I'm tired, but your stupid owl isn't what matters. I haven't seen James, but Quaffle just came around right before your letter came. He just had a little note, and it wasn't even finished. It was something like this:  
  
Moony tell Padfoot I'm okay but I need help I'm in..c's Hol....t me I don't know what to....they're coming Prongs.  
  
Quaffle's here still, but he won't go when I tried to send a letter to Prongs. I've also owled Dumbledore and the Potters - I borrowed my neighbor's owls. Can you come over? My parents are okay with it, and remember if you Floo it's "Lupins' Lair".  
  
Moony 


	2. Waiting

Disclaimer: I don't own the Marauders, and I don't care about anyone else.  
  
I want Order of the Phoenix so that this can all be proved wrong.  
  
Sirius  
  
It's a simple spell. Remus knew it, but wouldn't try it. He wasn't sure whether we should do magic outside of school. Obviously, he was in shock and completely panicked. He had no idea what to do.  
  
Peter didn't know it, but I taught it to him. He picked up on it quickly.  
  
I had to keep calm. For Prongs, I told myself. For Prongs. For James.  
  
I had James' wand. His parents had handed it to me shakily, his mother crying. Do you think it could be the Dark Lord, Sirius? They were asking me. Me. I felt like a weight had been dropped on my shoulders. Usually it's in Dungbombs.  
  
But this was James' life we were talking about.  
  
I hadn't answered them.  
  
Remus  
  
Sirius arrived just after Peter did, to be followed shortly by Dumbledore.  
  
I was panicked. And Albus Dumbledore was in my house.  
  
My mother practically fainted. Dumbledore had a potion, for strength, and he gave it to me. My father thanked him pompously and my mother babbled with tears in her eyes. She loved James. He was a good influence, she said. I had snorted.  
  
Sometimes I hated my parents.  
  
Sirius used a Locator on the letter just before Dumbledore arrived. It didn't work. I sat on the edge of my bed, dressed in an untidy manner that Sirius might have approved of some other time. Peter was wringing his hands and shooting suggestions every way, Sirius looked like he was on drugs, blinking and looking around and jumping if anyone touched him, and I pretended not to have seen him wipe his face, from sweat or tears. Whatever it was, he was ashamed of it. We were, respectively, sixteen and seventeen. We were boys. We didn't cry.  
  
I think it was tears.  
  
Peter  
  
I couldn't help but wonder if we'd ever see him again.  
  
The thought made my eyes sting. I wouldn't cry, but I could come close. I wasn't any good to them. I kept trying to think of something, but without much effect, Sirius just kept tapping his feet and shaking his head, eyes darting around.  
  
Remus was the good-natured one, and Sirius was the witty one, but James was the one who would listen and give advice. Remus would too, but more reluctantly. James was a better teacher, as well - he simply knew more. Remus and Sirius were both brilliant too, but neither of them were really teachers.  
  
It was James who had stayed up all night when Sirius and he were ahead on becoming Anamagi, and helped me with the last steps. James who had smiled easily whenever I made a mistake and told me it was no big deal, even when I ruined his prized Quidditch book. It was James who had listened to me cry when everything seemed wrong and I had failed Potions first year, and he who had helped me catch up. It was James who hadn't left my side when Snape and his cronies had cornered me after dinner and hexed me until I couldn't move. It was James who always stood up for me, no matter the consequences, and James who had taken the blame - and the two weeks of detention - for my botched revenge on Snape.  
  
And now it was my turn. I would pay him back.  
  
Somehow.  
  
And so the three Marauders sat, quieting after a time while Dumbledore paced Remus' spotless floor. They sat together next to Remus, a chain missing a link. Brothers missing a sibling. They sat silently together, waiting.  
  
Waiting.  
  
**  
  
AN - I apologize for not updating for so incredibly long. Thanks to Niggler for helping me out a bit with the Messr. confusion. Thank you also to jeswin and Fang. Please review, I need food for my thoughts! Yes, it was supposed to be confusing. Don't worry. 


	3. Uncertainty

Damn, this wasn't all proved wrong. 'S a matter of fact, maybe this is one of the three times fit into the prophecy.  
  
A Stag Alone  
  
Harold and Allison Potter  
  
There were no words to describe what Allison and I were feeling.  
  
Frantic. Terrified. Most likely we were in shock, as well.  
  
Sirius and Dumbledore were both as reassuring as they could be. I think it helped Allison, at least, to know that the most famous wizard of our time, the most adept headmaster Hogwarts had seen in centuries, was looking for our son.  
  
We had offers for help from every direction. Several students came to the House, whether older ones by Apparition, or younger ones by Floo Powder and brooms, or even Lily Evans, whose parents drove her almost three hundred miles to get to the House to help.  
  
Lily's reaction rather startled us, as we'd heard from James (among sighs and daydreams of her) that she hated him quite strongly. Still, we were very grateful for the help. Dumbledore directed them, setting Lily Evans to work on the note that Remus Lupin had gotten, taking others with him to search, having still more searching through his stupendously messy room to look for any signs, and leaving the rest to ask Allison and I questions.  
  
In between the interrogation James' schoolmates were giving me, I tried to help Lily with the note. She was much more skilled with Charms than anyone I'd ever seen, however, so except for looking up spell definitions for her I don't think I was much help. Even the strongest Locator we could muster between six of us only gave us a line of Xs, which weren't much help.  
  
The questions were hard, and made both Allison and I miserable. It made us realize how little we knew of our son.  
  
"What was he wearing?"  
  
We glanced at each other, uncertain. "I'm not sure if -" I began, and Allison let out a sob, "if he had changed out of his day clothes yet. We don't know what time he."  
  
"I'm not even sure what he was wearing today," Allison wailed. "He's in and out so much, and I just."  
  
Sirius Black, when he came back between whatever he was doing, looked sick with worry, and kept shooting looks at people. Remus, despite miserable and furious protests, was strictly forbidden to go out. He had just been ill, Dumbledore had confided, and was in no shape for searching. We said of course we understood, that was fine.  
  
Remus gave Dumbledore a look that told us we did not wholly understand. Still, however, we trusted Dumbledore's judgment.  
  
The morning came. There was still no sign. 


	4. Understanding

To Erenriel the Elven Canuck and Reius Devirix - Thanks! The spinning, however, will not end yet - oh no.  
  
Lily Evans  
  
I don't know why I did it.  
  
When Sirius Black wrote me, saying James was missing, did I know anything about it - it was obvious he was sending the same thing to everyone, but somehow it seemed connected to me.  
  
I woke up my father and mother, and begged them, begged them to drive me. We weren't connected to the Floo Network, I hadn't taken an Apparition test yet, and there was no way I could make a Portkey, it was illegal.  
  
I was going to miss saying goodbye to Petunia. She was moving out in the morning to live with her uppity fat fiancé and perhaps it was for the best. My parents were miserable - she's only eighteen - when she announced the news, and of course so was I, but I know she'll be happier with him. No matter how much she hates me, I don't hate her and I wish her the best.  
  
The drive was the longest four hours of my life. Daddy was speeding most of the way, and he almost got a ticket. When we arrived, Dumbledore was checking in and out, and the house was swarming with students.  
  
Remus was looking pale and obviously feeling useless - he was sick, they all said, but I wasn't stupid, and I knew what was going on. He and I were prefects together and I had noticed the times when he seemed ill. I hadn't said anything to him yet.  
  
Sirius was standing alone in the empty kitchen for the moment - I found him when I went to talk to Dumbledore. He started when he saw me, looked like he was about to say something sharp or vicious, then burst into tears.  
  
Taken aback, I took a deep breath and did something I had never even considered I'd do. I put an arm around his shoulder and cried with him.  
  
It was an understanding that sprang up between us, and I don't think he ever forgot it.  
  
After a few minutes, we both wiped our eyes, and went to work again.  
  
Dumbledore, who looked grimmer than I'd seen him since the morning he'd announced Professor Woodworth's death, set me to work on the note that Remus had gotten. I recognized James' handwriting, scrawled though it was, but no charms worked. Mr. Potter tried without success to help me.  
  
I was in shock, I think, from indirectly admitting my feelings at last. 


	5. Phoenix

AN - Erenriel the Elven Canuck! Hi again! Thanks for reviewing - again! Hope you keep reading and enjoying.  
  
Sirius  
  
Lily's here. I guess I'm glad. I mean, for James. If he - oh, God. IWhen/I he comes back. Because, you know, he's liked her for years now and maybe she's stopped hating him.  
  
I cried. I cried and she cried with me. And I'm not embarrassed, either, it was just sort of. . .right. Because she really does like him, a lot, I guess, even if she only realized it now, and she understood. Understands.  
  
I'm still holding his wand; I can't seem to let go of it. It's as if it's a connection between us.  
  
Dumbledore did something odd. A spell, I guess. Priori - I wish I could remember it, but I can't. Anyway, it was supposed to show what the last spell James performed with it was.  
  
It didn't work. Dumbledore went white when it failed, he turned and whispered something and his phoenix appeared. And then he sort of. . .nodded, and the phoenix disappeared again. I was standing by Mrs. Potter, and Dumbledore looked at us, his face was really grim and he looked awful. Remus looked up from where he was watching Lily and Mr. Potter, and Dumbledore said, "Tom." To himself, I think, but Mr. Potter stood up so fast his chair fell over and Mrs. Potter started to cry again. I looked at Remus, but he was just as confused as I was.  
  
Then he disappeared. Dumbledore, I mean, and then. . . there was a flash of gold and scarlet when he did, and the phoenix came back and sang, just a few notes, but we all relaxed and Mrs. Potter stopped crying.  
  
Dumbledore came back almost an hour later, looking exhausted and pale, shaking his head. The phoenix - I think he called it Fawkes, which under other circumstances would have amused me - fluttered to his shoulder and sang again, and it was as if a weight had been lifted, Dumbledore looked better, although not too much.  
  
Then he motioned me forward, looking extremely odd, and without a word I knew what he wanted me to do. I grabbed onto the phoenix's tail feathers, and he did too, and the last thing I remember was seeing Remus look up again from sitting next to Lily. I think he said my name, but there was a rushing in my ears and a swirl over my eyes, and everything vanished to red, and then black. 


	6. Prongs

A Stag Alone  
  
Chapter 6: Prongs  
  
James  
  
I don't know how many times they moved me from place to place because I stopped counting after three. Sometimes I wasn't even concious, and I was terrified above all. I had no idea whether anything I had tried had worked - for instance, changing into Prongs when they weren't looking so that I could leave prints they might not cover up. Or trying to send my owl to Remus - I don't know if they intercepted it, because they saw me release it, but I couldn't watch its progress under the Cruciatus, and so I couldn't tell.  
  
It was pain beyond pain, pain beyond anything imaginable, and I didn't know why.  
  
I remember asking, and the man I spoke to laughed. He told me that with his Master, there was no why, only who and when and where.  
  
I remember a sudden cold. I could feel it to my bones, shaking from pain and terror and cold, but they seemed unmoved by it.  
  
Until, of course, the dementor came closer.  
  
Sirius  
  
I opened my eyes lying on the ground, a scarlet feather gripped tight in one hand, alone.  
  
It was only a few seconds before Dumbledore joined me, appearing with a blinding flash rather stylishly, or so I'm sure I would have thought under other circumstances.  
  
His face was shadowed, but from what I could see it was extremely dark and hard. It was frightening, to see him like that when all I could remember in the past had been cheerfulness, amusement, stern warnings when we were summoned to his office perhaps, but never this. Never anything like this.  
  
He extended a hand silently, and I took it, letting the feather slip from my fingers and allowing him to help me stand. We were in a forest, somewhere, not the Forbidden Forest but somewhere darker, stuffier, with less light and more. . .anger.  
  
I swallowed, afraid of what I might see.  
  
Dumbledore watched me for a moment, his eyes appraising me, studying me carefully. I tried to push fear and worry and tiredness away, tried to keep neutral. I'm pretty sure I failed, and he would have been able to read it in any case. He gave a quick nod, as if to himself, and put a hand on my shoulder to lead me forwards.  
  
We walked through the trees for only a few minutes before stopping. There was a place where branches of a tree had been recently cut, because two were lying on the ground through the trees a bit more, but Dumbledore, still wordlessly, raised his eyes, and I did as well.  
  
There were places where two branches had clearly been cut, but growing from those now were more.  
  
Finally, Dumbledore spoke.  
  
"Do you know what this means, Mr. Black?"  
  
"A wizard must have been here," I said, "and not long ago."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "Or more than one," he said softly. "James and his kidnappers were here. I traced them to this spot, but they covered their tracks, so aside from their presence and the fact that they cut wood, I can tell nothing. Even that tells me very little. They're moving, once an hour or more often."  
  
I looked away, at the ground, and nodded. James had been here, recently.  
  
I closed my eyes, trying to feel what he must have been feeling. . .fear, perhaps anger, uncertainty. Pain? Had he been in pain? But I couldn't be sure. If Remus was here, he could smell it.  
  
I opened my eyes again, still looking at the ground, and saw the footprints of a stag. It circled nervously, I could tell by looking, and then stopped. But they were there, as clear as day.  
  
Prongs had been here, too. 


End file.
